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On Thursday 26 May TEDxDelft held its final storytelling event of the season, and to mark the end of the season the theme for this event was ‘new beginnings’. The evening was hosted by Marijn Vissers and Ogutu Muraya.

New beginnings can take shape or form in various ways. For Vissers, it can be first impressions. He recounted the story of how he got the distinctive curl of hair on his head. How, on a dare, his friends shaved all his hair for 100 Dutch guilders, then stopped with only a bit of hair left. For Vissers, it is a great way to see how different cultures react. “It is my cultural gauge,” he explained. In Vietnam, people remained silent even when asked. “In South Africa, a man dropped his groceries from laughter.”

For Muraya, originally from Kenya, a new beginning dawned when he moved to Amsterdam. “It seemed like there were more bicycles than there were human beings,” he said. He decided he wanted to learn how to ride a bike, so he went to a park in Amsterdam with a friend to learn. One day his friend let go of the bike, and Muraya was cycling by himself. But then a corner, a sharp corner. “Brake!” his friend shouted. But he crashed into a group of cycling policemen and women. As they were all picking themselves up again, the policewoman said: “Remember, where you look is where you go.”

Did you enjoy the final storytelling event of the season? Then get ready for the final TEDxDelft event of the 2015-2016 season, on Thursday 16 June. Keep an eye on social media and the blog for more details on what is sure to be a worthwhile sounding off.

On Thursday 18 February TEDxDelft hosted its third storytelling event of the season, entitled ‘The Lonely Hearts Club.’ Hosting the night’s event were Marijn Vissers and Cor Hoeve, two colleagues and professional storytellers. To them, telling a story is a way of expressing oneself. “Each one of you has a story to tell,” Hoeve begins.

He goes on to describe a previous relationship, in which he asked his then girlfriend how she would feel about having an open relationship, to which she agreed. But when talking about it with her some time later, he found out that while he had not acted upon it, she had. “I did not know what had happened, and it drove me crazy, all kinds of scenarios go through your mind.” In the end, he says it is best to know it all.

Next it was up to Vissers to tell his story of relationships. At first he was not interested in committing to one person. But then one day he sat next to a man, and they started talking. Before he knew it he would be in a relationship, sitting at the dining table every night at 18:00 waiting for his boyfriend. But his boyfriend would come home later and later, and jealousy got a hold of Vissers. He left the house, left the country, but came back eventually. He missed his boyfriend, and decided to be honest. They have been together now for 33 years.

Stories can have a very powerful effect on people. Vissers told the story of a teenager, living in a closed institution, an environment which does more bad than good. He asked the boy to tell about a beautiful part of his life. “Telling the story changed him, now he tells his story to others hoping to inspire them.” The power of telling a story can be remarkable. “And I know everyone in this room has one.”